


A Price Paid Twice

by Bulmaveg_Otaku



Series: Brevity is the Soul of Smut (smutty tumblr prompts) [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M, Oral Sex, Sex Magic, Witch!Darcy, totally made up witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 16:04:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6201865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bulmaveg_Otaku/pseuds/Bulmaveg_Otaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>erisdea asked:</p>
<p>Smutty asks still open? What about ShieldShock/WinterShock with witch!Darcy (or any supernatural!Darcy, really) ? <3</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Price Paid Twice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ErisDea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErisDea/gifts).



> Sooooooooooooo…. I’ve basically given up on trying to make these short at all. Great prompt, erisdea! My brain went…places and this happened. Hope you like it! This is sort of NSFW, guys, heads up.

The wood under Bucky's knuckles was smooth. The sound of his knock was crisp in the otherwise silent air of the glade where he'd found the witch's cottage. Shadows cast by the tallest of the pines were just tickling along the edge of the log walls as the sun set behind the Frostiron Mountains to the west. He shivered as the chill of the autumn air reached its wispy fingers through the gaps between his coat buttons. He tugged his collar up, his knit cap down, and clutched the front of his coat together in an attempt to block out any more cold from getting through.

He waited. His stomach was in knots with worry and anticipation and just a hint of fear, if he were being totally honest. The stories about the witch that lived alone in the forest on the other side of the river were both plentiful and varied, and none of them good. Most of them were cautionary tales about children that got curious, or men who sought her services out of greed and ended up paying with their lives. The way Bucky saw it, if every story about some poor soul running afoul of the witch and never being heard from again were true, there wouldn't be anyone left in his village, and if they really were never heard from again, who was telling people all these stories?

He had decided to believe most, if not all, of the stories were utter superstitious horseshit. Besides, he didn't really have any other options. With winter coming on soon and Stevie's breathing spasms already acting up worse than ever, he needed to find some way to help his frail friend. The village midwife and healer woman, Steve's mother Sarah, had always done a fair job getting him through the harsh winters, but with her passed from the bloody cough that spring, it was up to Bucky to keep the sickly young man on his feet.

Getting impatient, Bucky was about to knock again when a small panel in the door opened and a shadowy figure appeared on the other side.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" a low, feminine voice asked, sounding suspicious and irritated.

Bucky's mother had taught him always to be respectful to women, and he figured that went double for the ones that could supposedly turn you into deer droppings, or use your entrails to summon demons that would then hunt down and kill your loved ones.

"Name's James Barnes, ma'am. I'm looking for healing medicine for my friend and heard you've a knack for potions and such," he answered politely.

There was a moment of silence, then, "You've come a long way to help your friend, he must mean a great deal to you." Bucky simply nodded. "I might be able to help, but first I must know, are you willing to pay the two-fold price?"

Bucky frowned in confusion. "What is that?"

"Well," the voice answered carefully. "The two-fold price is what you pay for magic. The first half of the cost is gold, for me, for my services. The second part is in life essence, paid to power the magic of the spell. The greater the spell, the more the cost on both counts." The shadowed figure shifted, and Bucky thought he could make out a hint of blue, or maybe it was green, peeking out from a fall of dark hair, or possibly a cloak...? "So, I ask again. Are you willing to pay the two-fold price to help your friend?"

Bucky stood up straighter and lifted his chin. "I don't have much. I brought what gold I had to spare, and as for... as for the other thing, I'm not sure I understand what that means, but if it's in my power to pay it, I will."

After another lengthy pause, there was a sigh. "Very well. A moment, please." Then the sliding window snapped shut and he was standing outside in the cold again, the light of dusk almost completely faded. There was a small commotion on the other side of the door, footsteps or something clattering together, then the door was opening and the light from the fireplace inside was pouring out around his feet. He stood frozen a moment, unsure of what to do as he gazed into the room beyond. 

"Well, are you coming in, or not?" the woman's voice called from deeper in the room and Bucky forced himself to take a deep breath and step over the threshold. "Shut the door behind you, please." He did as instructed, then turned back.

She was standing near the far wall, examining a shelf full of little clay pots and glass jars and selecting things seemingly at random to place on the table next to her. Bucky couldn't tell much about her, since she had her back to him and a shawl up over her head. He sort of expected an old, withered woman with a cane and a lazy eye, but she wasn't moving like she was old.

Without turning she asked, "What exactly is wrong with your friend?" Now that they weren't speaking through a hole in the door her voice sounded much clearer and brighter.

"He, uh, has trouble breathing. Gets short of breath easily, and he's always coughing, but it usually gets really bad once the weather turns bad. He's always been sickly and a bit frail," he explained, collecting his thoughts and shaking away his hesitation. 

The woman hummed quietly before selecting two final ingredients and setting them on the table. When she turned, he actually gasped in surprise, his eyes locked onto her face. "Wow, you're really pretty," he blurted, sounding so shocked by that fact that he instantly felt guilty and was certain she would be offended.

She laughed instead, one quick burst that escaped her mouth before she could stop it. Still, he felt bad enough to immediately start apologizing, but she put a hand up and waved him off.

"It's fine," she stated wryly. "It actually makes this easier." 

There was a small giggle off to Bucky's left near the stairway that lead to the second level. Two sets of eyes peered at him through the gaps in the sturdy banister.

The woman turned towards the noise and cursed under her breath. There was a gasp of fright from the stairs and then the faces disappeared with a thundering of footsteps and stifled snickering.

"You two had better get in bed! I had better not see you again tonight!" She shouted up the stairs after the retreating figures. When she faced him again she looked both troubled and reluctantly amused. "I'm sorry about the twins. We don't get many people out here, and they're at a particularly curious age. They won't bother us again, though, have no fear." 

Bucky opened his mouth to ask about the two children, the twins, she'd said. Where they hers? Was she married with a family? She looked too young to have been a mother long enough to raise them. They had looked about 8 or 9 but they could have been younger, he supposed... Only she stopped him again, her face going serious as she gripped his arm and led him over to the table. "Please, sit. We can discuss payment and you can decide if you can afford my services."

To business then. He sat and pulled his hat from his head, as it was much warmer closer to the fireplace. 

"So, you need a healing spell that will last the winter and keep your friend from losing his breath or getting a coughing illness, is that about right?" She inquired as she perched herself on the edge of the table close enough to him that he had to crane his neck to look up into her face. "I don't imagine you want to be hiking all the way up here every few days for a new poultice, though those are cheaper, they do start to add up over time, plus, travel gets nearly impossible up here after the snows start."

Bucky nodded. "I've got about 15 sovereigns saved up. I was hoping to add some of it to my sister Becca's dowry, but she's only 10 years old, so I figure I'll have some time before she's of age."

The witch's eyebrows shot up at that. "15 sovereigns is a small fortune." She looked like she was considering asking him how in the world he'd managed to make that much gold, but stopped herself with a shake of her head. "Also, you probably shouldn't be telling a perfect stranger that. Aren't you worried I'll turn you into a newt and steal all your money?" 

He scoffed at her. "What? A pretty little thing like you? You look far too sweet to curse and rob a fella."

When her eyebrow went up this time her mouth tightened into a line of disapproval. "Looks can be deceiving, Mr. Barnes. Some of the most evil and deadly things in the world are beautiful beyond words, and there are many a nasty looking or unsightly things that might end up saving your life." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't seem young enough to be so totally naïve. Though, I suppose, if you've lived your whole life in the village of Brooklyn that the way things are out in the world might be beyond your experience. Still..."

"Life in my little village is real enough," he said, voice soft, but growing harder from her condescension. "I was just trying to pay you a compliment, but I see it was misplaced. My apologies."

She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "Oh, I see. Well, since we're on the subject of your admiration for my beauty, let's discuss the second half of your price."

Bucky furrowed his brow in confusion. "What's my- what's your beauty got to do with it?"

"Magic, Mr. Barnes, can be powered through a few different means. My mother, the woman most of your village was actually telling stories about, used to the prefer use of blood and sacrifice to power her spells. I, however, prefer to draw most of my essence from... Well, let's just say I utilize a different aspect of life and an alternate bodily fluid."

She paused to let that sink in. Bucky's mind picked up all the pieces she was leaving, like a trail of bread crumbs and put the bigger picture together. His mother was always telling him he was a smart boy.

"You mean seed?" He asked, just to make sure, and cringed at the way his voice got higher on the last word. He cleared his throat. "You mean you want to have sex with me."

Her smile was a little smug as she shook her head. "That won't be necessary. I can work up enough magic to power a health amulet for your friend, one that will last till the first buds of spring start to bloom, with a relatively small release of sexual energy. We shouldn't even have to remove all of our clothing, I don't think. Though, now that you mention it... For 15 sovereigns I could probably put together a spell to fix your friend completely, thought it would require..."

She glanced down from her musing to see how wide his eyes had gotten and let her words trail off. "Perhaps we should keep things simple to start, eh?" The witch stood and walked over to a small set of drawers to rummage around and exclaimed triumphantly when she removed a small metal disk and held it aloft in her pale, delicate hand. "Tell you what, for a single gold piece and a trivial sexual exchange I can get that amulet all spelled up for your friend. What do you say?"

He considered it, though he already knew what his answer would be. Even if she hadn’t been a lovely blue-eyed beauty with a lush, full figure under her plain dress, he was willing to do just about anything to keep his friend from going six feet under.

"Seems fair enough. How do I know it'll actually work, though?" He asked, face tight with suspicion. "I've never really put much stock in superstition." The business sense he'd inherited from his father insisted he be completely satisfied before any deals were struck."

She laughed at that, another one of those breakaway laughs that seemed to startle her as much as it did him. "Well, you obviously put some stock in them, otherwise you wouldn’t be here."

He could only shrug. "I was out of other options."

"Hmmmm," she said, pursing her lips and crossing her arms over her ample bosom. "Well, you've heard the stories. Do you think the powerful men of Brooklyn would allow me to live out here, to do my spells and rituals for all the desperate folk of the village if I wasn't of some use. They fear me, true, and worry what would happen if I truly ever gained any power over them, which is why they encourage those frightening tales of cation an woe, but they're too afraid that they might actually need me and my gifts someday to do anything more. And perhaps they really do fear what might happen if they forced my hand, but regardless, if my spell doesn't help your friend you can always return, assured that I am powerless to stop you taking back your gold."

Bucky felt fear and anger rise up in him at her flippant words. He couldn't help rising to his feet and steeping closer so that he could loom over her threateningly. "If your spell doesn't work, my friend will likely die, and if that happens, you can rest assured I'll be back for more than my gold."

She tilted her head, her chin coming up defiantly. "Well, it's a good think it'll work then, isn’t it?"

He examined her face, her tone, her body language for any signs of deceit, and, finding none, stepped back and nodded. "Very well. We are agreed."

"Excellent," she cheered, as if he hadn’t just been invading her space and threatening to cause her harm. "I need a moment to get set up, but it shouldn't take long. Would you like some whiskey or wine while you wait?"

"Please," he said, dipping his head. "Some whiskey would be good." She fetched a decanter of golden liquid and a glass, pouring carefully and handing it off to him before she pushed around him and began to work. She started by clearing the floor and then marking it up with a small piece of chalk. Bucky watched her as he sipped his drink. It was surprisingly smooth and he grunted in approval and went back to watching her set things up. She had drawn a large circle with a looping four-pointed star in the center of it and had begun placing bits of powder or plant matter at various points of her symbol from the jars and bottles. He recognized laurel levels and could smell peppermint as she shredded some small, jagged leaves and smeared the resulting mess in the center of one of the loops. 

When that was all in place, she set the small metal disk in the dead center of it all. After which she retrieved a small stand with a shallow dish at its apex and a small dagger and placed added them to the circle.

She stood back to examine her work and then nodded approvingly. "Okay then, if you'll join me in the circle. You can remove your coat if you wish. It's plenty warm in here without it."

He set his hat and his now empty glass on the table, unbuttoned his coat, shrugged it off, and placed it beside them. Bucky noticed her watching him as he did so and warmed slightly under her appreciative gaze. He still had the words 'trivial sexual exchange' rolling around in his head like a riddle that needed answering, insistent and peculiar.

When he walked towards her she held out a hand in warning. "Careful of the chalk, and don't disturb any of the elements. I won't be responsible if your bumbling, large feet ruin the ritual and negate the magic."

He rolled his eyes, but stepped carefully around the white lines and carefully placed detritus. Standing there a bit awkwardly, he rubbed his hands on his trousers to dry them as he waited for further instruction. 

"What now?" He asked, a bit irritably when she just stood there, blatantly looking him over.

"OH! Right. Sorry, I was just distracted by what a handsome, strapping young man you are. That's always nice." She said, giving him a wink as she tossed her shawl onto one of the chairs by the table and then began unbuttoning her dress.

Bucky blinked hard and then looked up at the ceiling to avoid staring. "I thought you said we wouldn't have to take off our clothes," he growled, a bit thrown off by her unpredictable behavior yet again.

"I'm just getting my dress out of the way. It's fairly cumbersome and I don’t' want to get it dirty," she explained easily as she finished with her buttons and reached down to gather up her skirts and tug said dress off over her head and toss it next to her shawl. Once she was in her undergarments, she lowered herself carefully to her knees before him, making sure not to brush against or knock aside any of her precisely laid pieces.

Finally settled, she closed her eyes and held her hands loosely before her, palms up as she began to chant. 

Her words were unfamiliar, strange sounding, but her voice remained soft and low, so he tried to calm his breathing and settle his pounding heart. 

"Lasadh!" the witch shouted as she clapped her hands together and the candles she'd placed at the place where each of the four loops of the star intersected the circle burst into flame.

Bucky gasped, and any attempt to still his racing heart went right out the window. He jerked his gaze from the flickering flame of the taper on his right to the woman. Her eyes were open now and she met his gaze as she gave him a small, reassuring smile. 

She closed her eyes again and went back to chanting again, repeating a circle of words that slipped like soapy water through his head, slick and difficult to hold on to.

"Tuath Meridiem Ida Vestur," she said, her voice growing slightly louder with each repetition, when suddenly she stopped, put her arms out to her sides, fingers stretching and commanded, "Inconjura et surak!"

There was a rush of...something, around him. He felt it, though it couldn't have been the wind or a breeze because neither his clothes nor her hair rustled, the fire and candles didn't flicker. He had felt something, though. 

He stood stock still, afraid to move. The air around him felt thicker, more real as it pressed against his skin, and he could smell the peppermint she'd used suddenly pungent and clearer than ever, along with other smells that were unfamiliar to him. The memory of the whiskey was sharp on his tongue, and when she looked up at him again, he could see the ring of color around her pupils wasn’t true blue or green, but some beguiling mixture of the two.

"What-" he started to ask, but then stopped, not sure which of his questions to voice first.

She seemed to understand his intent though and pointed towards the chalk outline she'd drawn earlier. "I've set the circle. This protects us and helps me contain the magical essences of the spell. It also helps concentrate the energies, giving you the largest possible production for your input," she explained. 

Bucky nodded down at her though he wasn't sure he really understood it all. She slapped her hand to her forehead, making him jump.

"Silly me! I forgot to ask if you were a virgin."

He gaped at her. One instant she was this mysterious and powerful woman, confident and formidable, the next she was just like any other young girl, imperfect and expressive. Every time he thought he was starting to get a feel for her she'd switch things up on him and knock him for another loop.

"Well, are you?" She prompted when he'd failed to answer her question for too long.

He shook his head. "Uh, no, I'm not a virgin." He wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but Connie Oswald had rid him of that title three summers past.

The girl on her knees before him smiled slyly and tipped her head. "Didn't think so. Oh well, it doesn’t make that much of a difference in this case, anyway." Then she reached over the items on the floor between them and started undoing the laces of his breeches.

He startled from the contact, but fought the urge to pull her hands away. He'd sort of known it was coming, but that didn't make it any less abrupt. "What are you...?"

"It's easiest if I use my mouth on you. You don't mind, do you?" She asked, in much the same voice as she'd used to offer the whiskey.

He simply shook his head and tried to relax, though his head was swimming with questions and overloaded by sensations and fraught with uncertainty. Part of him was reeling and uncomfortable for being out of his element, but part of him was fascinated, intrigued by this strange girl and her mysterious powers. 

Plus, her fingers kept brushing against him as she unfastened his pants and started pushing them open and the firelight was shining right through the thin fabric of her chemise and he could see the round curves of her breasts very clearly whenever he looked down.

It was no surprise that he was more than half erect when she pulled his manhood from the confines of his clothes and began stroking him gently.

"I'm sorry, I’m already-, " he choked off his words once more, not sure why he had the sudden impulse to apologize, except that most of the village girls he'd lain with had always acted to shocked and scandalized by his arousal, though most had succumb easily enough to his seduction attempts. None had ever offered to pleasure him with their mouth, though. 

She smiled up at him, amused as she used one hand to pull back on his foreskin and expose the sensitive tip of his cock. "It's okay. This doesn't work quite so well if you don't get hard for me. Besides, I'd never complain about having the work half done." She eyed the bit of his flesh in her hands and then raised her eyes to give him one last smirk. "Don't hold back now. The point is completion, so-" 

The end of her sentence hung between them like a tense line of expectation and anticipation. That line was snapped completely, though, when she parted her lips and leaned forward to wrap them around him.

The hot, moist press of her mouth on him felt incredible! The way everything around them seemed amplified and intensified seemed to include physical sensations and in no time at all he was panting and moaning and fully hard as she licked him with her tongue and sucked him into her mouth and slid her mouth up and down along his shaft.

Unable to resist, he lifted his hands to her hair. He'd noticed that she kept it unbound and loose around her shoulders like the younger girls in his village, though he couldn't bring himself to disapprove, as it looked so lovely shifting around her face, but now he wished it out of his way so that he could see every expression and motion as she took him in her mouth.

He gathered her thick, soft locks and held them behind her head with one hand while he tugged his shirttails out of the way with the other, lifting and pulling them tight around his torso so that he got a totally unobstructed view.

She hummed in approval and the feel of it jolted right up his cock and into his spine. "Son of a bitch," he swore and tilted his head back, so he could close his eyes and just focus on the feelings she created with her talented mouth.

Still holding her hair, he dropped his head forward so that he could look at her again. The sight of her, there, on her knees, soft lips gliding up and down his shaft and her breasts, heavy and full, swaying back and forth under her shift as she moved, drew him quickly to his end. 

"I'm going to-" he growled, then gasped as he finished, pulsing hard and bright as he emptied his seed in her mouth. She sucked at his slit, getting every last drop before releasing him to tilt her face down and spit his spend into the little dish on its stand that rested between them.

She let go of him so fast that he swayed and almost toppled over. Quick as an adder she scooped the small dagger into her hand and pricked the end of one finger, squeezing a few droplets of red to blend with his seed in the shallow bowl before sucking her finger into her mouth and wincing.

She released the end of her slender digit much the way she had his phallus, with a pop and tiny slurp, then began waving her hand over the whole thing and chanting quietly.

When she reached the end of her incantation, he felt the air around them get...excited, seeming to almost vibrate around them. The witch clapped her hands again and there was a flash of light and a pulse of energy, which made him flinch back and squeeze his eyes shut.

When he gathered enough strength and courage, for he was suddenly very shaky and exhausted, he peeled his eyes opened and looked at the scene before him.

The shallow dish was now empty, and the leaves and powders that had been littering the circle had vanished, leaving no trace behind, not ash or scorch mark or fragment. She reached beneath the stand and picked up the metal disk, lifting it to her face so that she could examine it carefully.

After a moment of inspection she grinned and jumped to her feet. "It appears our preparations have succeeded," she announced and motioned to his still unlaced breeches and flaccid dick. "You can get dressed. We're done here."

Bucky scrambled clumsily to tuck himself away and refasten his pants while she walked around him to pull her dress back on over her head and button the front of it back up.

When they were once again decent he turned to study her. Though her hair was considerably more mussed now, he would never have known she just had his cock in her mouth. She seemed pleased as she turned the medallion between her fingers and looked it over. He reached a hand out for it, and was surprised when she pulled it behind her back.

"Gold first," she explained, appeasing the scowl that was beginning to form on his brow.

"Right, of course," he muttered, reaching into his coat for the small pouch of sovereigns. Plucking one from the collection, he paid the witch for her services. When she placed the small, surprisingly warm, circle of metal in his hand, he noticed a symbol engraved on one side. It looked like an upside L with a spiral through the longer, vertical line. "What do I do with this now?"

"Fasten it with a cord of leather and give it to your friend. It should sit in the exact center of the breastbone with the symbol against the skin. As long as he wears it he will breathe easy," she instructed as she moved to tuck her payment away in a small chest she had removed from one of her shelves. 

"Until the first buds of spring begin to bloom, you said." He wanted to be very clear about what he was supposed to be getting so that he'd know if he were cheated or not.

She replaced the chest, having locked it and turned back to him. "Exactly. When the time comes, if you're satisfied with the results, you might consider what I said earlier. I would need to examine your friend to make sure, but for the right price I could probably fix him up for good, give him strength and health like he's never had before."

"For a price," Bucky added, and he wasn't able to keep the cynical sneer from his tone.

"That's right, a two-fold price," she replied simply, and watched him studiously as he slipped on his coat and placed his hat over his head before tucking the medallion he'd paid for into his money pouch and tucking it safely back into his coat pocket. "Everything costs something, Mr. Barnes, and magic is no exception. Remember that when you consider what I've told you."

He nodded. "Very well, I will." He felt unsure what to do next. Their business was concluded, but he felt as though he should offer more, given the intimacy of their exchange. "And thank you for..."

One last time she laughed, that surprised explosion of humor that overtook her controlled demeanor. "Don't mention it," she chuckled. 

He felt heat on his cheeks as he nodded and then she was waving him to the door and showing him out. He bade her goodbye and departed, knowing his walk home would be long and cold, but expecting, in the end, that it was well worth it.

If everything worked as promised, perhaps he would return with Stevie by his side in the spring.  
He smiled to himself as he trudged through the dark, chilly night. Gold wasn't easy to come by, but he figured it held less value for him than his friend's health and well-being, and as for the other half of the cost, well, he supposed some sacrifices were easier than others. 

He would do anything for Steve, after all.


End file.
